The invention relates to a process for manufacturing profiled disposable absorbent articles, and to an apparatus for performing the process. In a preferred embodiment the invention provides a process and apparatus for providing profiled side-panels, in particular elastic side-panels, without waste of the side-panel material. In particular, diapers or training pants may be made by the process of the invention having side xe2x80x9ccut-outsxe2x80x9d for better fit around the legs of the wearer, but the process may also be applied to feminine hygiene articles, adult incontinence articles, and other disposable absorbent articles.
Disposable absorbent articles have become very popular in the market place today. Many of these articles include features such as side-panels that provide a variety of functions including improved containment characteristics and better, more comfortable fit.
An overriding consideration in the construction of a disposable absorbent article is the cost of manufacturing the article, including the materials cost. The present invention provides methods for manufacturing side panels for absorbent articles with little or no wasted material. Thus, the side panels made by the process of the present invention can be provided at relatively lower cost than many of the side panels that are currently manufactured using techniques in which material is wasted. Processes which reduce or avoid material waste are disclosed in the following references.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,034,007, issued on Jul. 23, 1991, describes a method for cutting xe2x80x9cnested earsxe2x80x9d by making a periodic convex/concave cut lengthwise along a web. The two cut portions of the web are then separated and symmetrically arranged in the width direction with the straight edges on the inside and the convex/concave edge aligned on the outside. An alternative method of achieving the same result is disclosed in EP-A-0 396 050, published on Nov. 7, 1990. This discloses individually reversing all of the cut portions by turning them 180xc2x0 about an axis lying in the plane of the web.
WO96/24319, published Aug. 15, 1996, discloses a method for manufacturing activated side-panels cutting in a xe2x80x9cnestedxe2x80x9d pattern, and rotating all of the cut portions of the web through 180xc2x0 about an axis lying in the plane of the web prior to attaching them to the diaper web (in particular this is illustrated in FIG. 7).
It is an object of the present invention to provide an alternative method of achieving the waste-saving advantages of xe2x80x9cnested earsxe2x80x9d, and to provide an apparatus for use in the method.
The invention provides a process and apparatus for the manufacture of disposable absorbent articles comprising the application of discrete web panels to a receiving web, wherein a plurality of first web panels and second web panels are cut from the same continuous web, and wherein the process comprises the steps of:
cutting the continuous web to form at least a first web panel and a second web panel;
rotating the second web panel; and
applying the first web panel and the second web panel to the receiving web.
The object of the invention is achieved by rotating the second web panel about an axis perpendicular to the plane of the second web panel.